Playing-cards



AVERY M. STOUFFER AND WILLIAM EHRLER, OF STOCKTON, ILLINOIS.

PLAYING-CARDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3, 19.12).

Application filed March 13, 1916. Serial No. 83,948.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, AVERY M. STOUFFER and W'ILLIAM EHRLER, citizens of the United States, residing at Stockton, in the county of J o Daviess and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing-Cards; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to games, and more especially to playing cards; and the object of the same is to produce a pack of cards for playing a game which is based on the principle of authors excepting that the cards are applied to the anatomy. Herewith we are showing and describing the game as applied to the bones in the human system, but it is clear that it might be applied to the muscles or the nerves, and also that it is not limited to the human anatomy. Broadly speaking the purpose of the game is to instruct its players in the names of parts of the anatomy, such as the bones in the human skeleton. This is carried out as set forth below and as shown in the drawings wherein:

Figures 1, 2, 3 and '1 are plan views of the cards constituting one book, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of one card of the same book showing amplifications which may well be incorporated.

The cards 10 are by preference the same as those employed in ordinary packs, having fanciful and like backs and white faces, with or without a border on either side but preferably without a border on the face; and they may or may not be provided with the well-known squeezers although we have shown the latter in Figs. 1 and 5. In the illustration of our game as set forth in the embodiment herewith, there will be sixty cards divided into fifteen books of four cards each. Each book will be devoted to one division of the human skeleton, and the book shownin Figs. 1, 2, 3 and i is devoted to the leg bones from the thigh to the foot. As is well known,these bones are the femur, the patella, the tibia, and the fibula, and these four words are printed on every card of the book as shown at 11, 12, 13 and 14. The disposition of the four words on the four cards of the book is different, the word femur occurring at the top of the first card as shown in Fig. 1, and the other three words appearing at the bottom thereof and possibly in smaller type. Figs. 1 and 5 also show how these words may be numbered as indicated by the number 15 in Fig. 1, each within a ring although that is not necessary. If so, the word patella and the numeral 2 would occur at the top of the second card of the book shown in Fig. 2, and this might be called the dominant word as shown at 12 in this view while the other three words shown at 11, 13 and L1 are the subordinate words. In all cases we would provide each card with a title generically including the constituent parts which are defined by the four words, and we prefer to represent this title by a picture as shown at 16, the picture here being that of the various leg bones in their appropriate relation.

If squeezers are employed as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and indicated by .17 in Fig. 5 they may each contain a letter and a number, the former indicating the'book and the latter the card therein, or they might contain a word or words giving the title itself, as leg in Fig. 5, and the number of the card therein. No novelty is claimed for the squeezers or for the use of squeezers in a pack of cards, but the matter in the squeezer may well be appropriate to the subject-matter on the face of the card.

The idea is susceptible of amplifications. In Fig. 5 the dominant word is printed in large letters across the top of the card as indicated at 18, preferably with a line beneath it separating it from the remainder of the face which will now contain the four words, with or without a number adjacent each. These words may well be arranged near the respective bones in the picture 16, and leader lines 19 may extend from the several words to the proper leg bones so that the player can identify the individual bones with the names thereof.

It will not be necessary to illustrate other bones of the human anatomy in order to make it clear that the remainder of the books in the pack will be made up in like manner. It will be clear, also, that instead of bones we might employ groups of nerves or muscles, providing always that there is a generic or titular word (such as leg in the above example) which can consistently be applied to the several words making up the group. This would be useful in the present illustration in permitting a player to say that he had a leg card, and a leg card might be given a certain numerical value which counted so much in winninga game. By this we mean that it is possible for one book to count more than a.notheraccord ing, perhaps, to the importance of the member. Also it is not beyond the idea that an anatomical game of this general character could be made up of books, some of which were based on bones, others on muscles, and yet others on nerves, or systems such as the respiratory system. It is even possible, pro vi'ded one Wanted to depart from anatomy, to base the game on other studies, such as botany, mineralogy, astronomy, music, etc.

In all cases, however, we make the distinction that instead of using as a generic Word the name of the author, 'an'dthe names of his books for the dominant and subordinate Words on each card, we use as a generic term a title defining the group of objects, as leg, and we employ specific Words applied to the parts or members which go to make up that group. We may even omit the ge- I neric- Word, but we prefer always to indicate it by a titular illustration or picture.

What we claim is:

An educational device for instructing in the subject of anatomy comprising a set of cards including a number of books each of which consists of a like number of cards, all of the cards of a given book having similar pictorial illustrations of a given anatomical structure, and each card having the name of different elements of the illustrated subject thereon, one of the names being more distinctively displayed than the others, the distinctive name being differenton each card of the entire set of cards. 7

In testimony whereof We afiiX our signatures.

AVERY M. ST'OUFFER.

' his WILLIAM EHRLER,

mark

By Avery M. Stoufie'r, his authorized agent.

Copies of this Epatent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 2D. 0. 

